The regulations as written are not an advancement of gifted education.

I support the changes submitted by the Virginia Association for the Gifted, Virginia Consortium of Gifted Education Administrators and Virginia Advisory Committee for the Education of the Gifted.

Specifically, on the issue of funding, I would rather have DOE over communicate rather than under communicate. It has been stated that funding is in a separate document. I would rather be redundant and have it written in the regulations as well.

Yearly planning is not a sound educational practice. The plan will always be in a constant state of revision and renewal, which will hinder progress. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to see meaningful goals to fruition with a yearly plan. The plans MUST be reviewed by DOE for educational requirements. Otherwise, no central authority will be responsible to confirm that the plans are in compliance with regulations. It is not fair to assume that local school boards have the expertise to review the plans. Also, in order to ensure teacher involvement, sixty business days should be changed to sixty “instructional” days.

Lastly, the requirement to serve students in all four academic areas, Kindergarten through twelfth grade, needs to be adjusted. Rather than saying “and”, it should be stated as “OR”. Localities should be allowed to make this decision based on the needs of their system.

The regulations need to be rewritten to keep Virginia in the forefront of education. Our students deserve nothing less!